Baikal Listvyanka Hotel

... The hostel had sorted us out with a chalet that cost the same price as our double hostel room, the advantage of traveling in the off season.<br><br>We take the bus and on arrival in town we eventually find our chalet in a stunning valley with lake views. We celebrate under a big blanket on our balcony with some Russian Champagne. Photos to follow once we get to China due to slow internet.<br><br>Listvyanka is ...

... end of town to sort out his accomodation, we agree to meet at the cafe near the wharf at 7pm.<br><br>We meet Alexi, his face more Mongolian than Russian, he points to the hill above his house and we are pleased to see our log cabin, all very exciting. After the climb, we are let in and the place , it is amazing and a bargain, the benefit of arriving just after the main tourist season.<br><br>One common trend we noticed is that that the port bar and the deserted nightclub ...

... I can see why a lot of people may be disappointed after making the journey, but this place is about the lake. Walking beside it, watching it, diving in it &#8211; what ever interests you, if you are a lover of nature or being outside then I don't think you will be disappointed with the many faces it has to show.<br><br>The evening was spent at the guest house where the owner made us a home cooked dinner of the local speciality &#8211; Omul (fish from the lake).<br><br>The next day the ...

... Despite it's fame the village is very peaceful and small, situated along one main road running parrallel to the lake. The main sites to see were the Baikal Museum, thankfully Lena was there to translate as all the information was in Russian, several view points, a valley of old Russian houses and a small Russian church and finally plently of small restaurants serving the local speciality.. Omul. (fish) We managed ...

... was still an amazing day and the weather was pretty good.<br><br>The weather in general is inconsistent...one day it'll be warm enough I won't need a jacket, the next it will be near freezing the whole day. From what I understand, the warm weather stops after only a couple more weeks of September, though it shouldn't be totally ridiculously freezing until later in<br>October.<br>

Russian Mother made our journey to Listvyanka extraordinarily easy for us, ushering us into a taxi which took us to the Irkutsk bus station, then negotiating our passage from there, by mini-bus to the small lake-side town. She accompanied us most of the way, before emotionally (Finola cried, I was strong for her) alighting at her sanatorium destination. We continued on alone for a couple of kilometers, and were then dropped off exactly outside the ...

TRAIN 2 "ROSSIYA" SVERDLOVSK - IRKUTSK <br><br><br>The 50 hour train journey was fantastic. A lovely train, interesting fellow travellers, amazing scenery and plenty of reading material meant that if anything we thought it passed too quickly. We met Corina, a Swiss girl, and Laurens and Myrthe, a dutch couple, who are all doing the exact same trains as us to Beijing so we'll be bumping into them in the coming weeks ...

Junassa tapasimme venalaisen Alexin, joka lupasi meille isoaitinsa luona aamupalan, lampiman suihkun ja apua junalippujen kanssa. Otimme tarjouksen vastaan ja jaimmekin jo pari pysakkia ennen Irkutskia pois junasta. Siita sitten eka pimean taksin hakemista, mutta yhtakkia Alexin kaveri pamahti paikalle ja paastiin silla kyydilla esikaupunkialueelle. Tavallaan vahan arvelutti, mutta missaan vaiheessa ei oikeesti tuntunut silta, etta matka veisi ...

At 22:45 the train pulled smoothly and quietly out of Harbin to head east, away from the chaos of the last Chinese train station and the chaos of my last Asian city for a while. Border crossings rarely cease to amaze in how defining they are. This one in particular may be the most pronounced, clearly saying "This is Russia and that is China." and vice-versa. The smog of eastern China ceased and I leant my head out to breathe the cleanest air since Singapore, a month previous. All ...